Free LSD

Somehow, eight years have passed since OFF! released their Wasted Years album. It kind blew my mind when I realized that much time had passed as I was getting ready to write up this post. I mean, I know that we lost a couple years into the Covid black hole, but still, eight years?! Fucking hell. Feels more like three or four years, tops!

I really liked that Wasted Years record... in fact, in my Top 10 for 2014, I ranked it as number one at the time. When I heard that OFF! were releasing a new album this year, I was obviously going to jump on it.

I figured that OFF! were fairly predictable. Their other albums didn't deviate too much from the core OFF! sound, so I thought that I knew what to expect with Free LSD. I was wrong. This new album is... ummm... different. Keith Morris is still the singer, so their sound hasn't drastically changed, but musically, there is a lot of stoner, fuzzed out guitar, that I wasn't expecting. It is like the band crossed over into Fu Manchu territory a bit, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I definitely like this album, but initially I found the change a bit jarring, highlighted by the little "free jazz" interludes sprinkled throughout the record. I kind of want this album to sound like the other OFF! albums, but who knows, over time I may come to appreciate that Free LSD is a bit different.

A lot of the colored vinyl looks great for this album, but I went with the "electric blue" option.

When I bought this blue vinyl pressing, it was listed as the "deluxe glow-in-the-dark gatefold edition with blotter lyric sheet", and I thought it was something that was unique to this colored vinyl version. Nope. All seven different colored vinyl options have the same packaging... plus the glow-in-the-dark piece is on the inside gatefold, which is kind of pointless.